a pause for pimpage
I'm spending the weekend attempting to get back into a regular writerly routine. Then I plan to spend November getting back into a writerly routine.
No, I'm not doing NaNoWriMo.
Instead, I'm doing picowrimo. This is a small, cheerful comm on LJ, which uses the November frenzy as a starting point. With Picwrimo, you set your own goal -- any goal at all -- and work on it. Feel free to check out the comm, and maybe even join it if it meets your November needs. (I was introduced to it by justice_turtle.)
I did Pico last year. Last November, of course, was the month in which I quite my job and packed up all my belongings, except for the ones that I gave away or threw away and the ones that were packed for me by the wonderful dear friends who saved my sanity at the end of the month. Not surprisingly, I had to give up my writing goal, even the modest goal, before the month was out. But I wrote more with the comm than I would have without it, and that's what matters.
My goal this year is the same as last year: write every day. No word count, no other specification. Just write.
I'm mostly writing this post to pimp, and not just picowrimo. Most of you already know about fic_rush -- hell, many of you already belong to it! But for those who don't:
fic_rush is another LJ writing comm. It was founded by studyofrunning in 2009, and I've been in charge of it since September 2010. My Mod Squad takes the weekend in shifts, so that everyone has a chance to eat and sleep, ad well as write if they find it difficult to focus on writing while handling mod duties.
Each month, we choose one weekend; for that weekend, the object is to set aside as much of the weekend as possible, for 48 hours, and focus on writing. The 48 hours runs from midnight to midnight GMT (currently 8 pm Friday to 8 pm Sunday). During that time, a post is made every hour to the fic_rush_48 comm, and anyone online can check in, brag about progress, bemoan lack of progress, ask for support or advice or sympathy or recipes for toast, etc. After the round ends, we have a wrap-up post in which we brag abouit what we accomplished and cheer each other.
It's a very cracky comm, especially after fatigue has set in. It has enough running jokes to staff an entire track team. Late in the round, we sometimes degenerate into writing cracky commentfic -- this has been the source of most of the items in "Better Than Penguins" and "The Penguin Guide to Gate Travel" (penguins being one of the longer-term running jokes).
As it happens, there's a round going on right now, this weekend. Drop in if you like! At the moment, I'm modding, and attempting to brainwash the participants into writing instead of distracting themselves. Last night, I gave extra points for people wearing purple, and our attempt to use glowsticks led to the discovery that glow sticks to everything, but can be washed off with buckets of handwavium.
I did mention that it's a very cracky comm, right?
The original core members were Doctor Who fanfic writers, but I have been secretly padding the ranks with Stargate fans. Seriously, it's multi-fandom, laid-back and silly. No sign-ups are required, and you can come and go as you like. Drop in some month!
No, I'm not doing NaNoWriMo.
Instead, I'm doing picowrimo. This is a small, cheerful comm on LJ, which uses the November frenzy as a starting point. With Picwrimo, you set your own goal -- any goal at all -- and work on it. Feel free to check out the comm, and maybe even join it if it meets your November needs. (I was introduced to it by justice_turtle.)
I did Pico last year. Last November, of course, was the month in which I quite my job and packed up all my belongings, except for the ones that I gave away or threw away and the ones that were packed for me by the wonderful dear friends who saved my sanity at the end of the month. Not surprisingly, I had to give up my writing goal, even the modest goal, before the month was out. But I wrote more with the comm than I would have without it, and that's what matters.
My goal this year is the same as last year: write every day. No word count, no other specification. Just write.
I'm mostly writing this post to pimp, and not just picowrimo. Most of you already know about fic_rush -- hell, many of you already belong to it! But for those who don't:
fic_rush is another LJ writing comm. It was founded by studyofrunning in 2009, and I've been in charge of it since September 2010. My Mod Squad takes the weekend in shifts, so that everyone has a chance to eat and sleep, ad well as write if they find it difficult to focus on writing while handling mod duties.
Each month, we choose one weekend; for that weekend, the object is to set aside as much of the weekend as possible, for 48 hours, and focus on writing. The 48 hours runs from midnight to midnight GMT (currently 8 pm Friday to 8 pm Sunday). During that time, a post is made every hour to the fic_rush_48 comm, and anyone online can check in, brag about progress, bemoan lack of progress, ask for support or advice or sympathy or recipes for toast, etc. After the round ends, we have a wrap-up post in which we brag abouit what we accomplished and cheer each other.
It's a very cracky comm, especially after fatigue has set in. It has enough running jokes to staff an entire track team. Late in the round, we sometimes degenerate into writing cracky commentfic -- this has been the source of most of the items in "Better Than Penguins" and "The Penguin Guide to Gate Travel" (penguins being one of the longer-term running jokes).
As it happens, there's a round going on right now, this weekend. Drop in if you like! At the moment, I'm modding, and attempting to brainwash the participants into writing instead of distracting themselves. Last night, I gave extra points for people wearing purple, and our attempt to use glowsticks led to the discovery that glow sticks to everything, but can be washed off with buckets of handwavium.
I did mention that it's a very cracky comm, right?
The original core members were Doctor Who fanfic writers, but I have been secretly padding the ranks with Stargate fans. Seriously, it's multi-fandom, laid-back and silly. No sign-ups are required, and you can come and go as you like. Drop in some month!